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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25610620">of old friends and old enemies (sometimes you can be both)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nigoi/pseuds/nigoi'>nigoi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Nostalgia, Phone Calls &amp; Telephones, Reunions, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:40:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,782</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25610620</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nigoi/pseuds/nigoi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After meeting Ace, Shanks calls Buggy, and they talk for the first time in years.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks &amp; Buggy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>172</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Set Sail One Piece Mid Year Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>of old friends and old enemies (sometimes you can be both)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/stereden/gifts">stereden</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>That night, when practically all his crew is fast asleep, Shanks sneaks into his ship, into his communications room, and calls someone he hasn’t spoken to in years.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shouldn’t even have his number, really, but he couldn’t help it when the opportunity presented itself. The story is too long to tell right now, but it involves a clown, a sword, a fishman, and stale butter. The reminder is almost enough to make him burst into laughter, but he stops himself. If Buggy picked up the phone and the first thing he heard was him laughing, the fucker would hang up then and there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He still may do that even if Shanks doesn’t laugh, but eh. He won’t risk it, not so soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Den Den Mushi rings, unanswered, but Shanks doesn’t worry. Buggy’s always been one of those arriving fashionably late types --- he’s probably staring at his snail, waiting for the very last ring to pick it up and pretend he’s just arrived or something, and who dares bother him when he’s so busy---</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello?” Buggy’s gruff voice comes from the snail, exactly when the last ring is about to sound. Shanks can’t keep the shit-eating grin from worming its way onto his face, but then again, why would he want to? Happiness is always worth showing, especially if it has the chance of annoying someone. “I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> busy right now, so if this isn’t important---”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good to see you haven’t changed, old friend,” Shanks interrupts him, and actually laughs at Buggy’s surprised squawk. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“S-Shanks?!” he says, and then: “Who are you laughing at, you cock-swallowing asshole?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You, obviously.” A stray tear slides down his cheek. He would wipe it for comedic effect (even if he’s the only one there; you never know when someone might be watching!), but his only arm is holding the </span>
  <span>Den Den Mushi round thingy</span>
  <span>, so he can’t. He’s never exactly regretted losing his arm for Luffy, but it’s in moments like this, when he can’t make a joke because of it, that he comes the closest to it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you’re still as damn arrogant as ever, huh?” Heh. He’s one to speak. “Can you even see other people from your fucking sky-scraping place? I bet---”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I met Captain's son today.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“---you don’t even know your subordinates’ names - What? Captain’s? As in, Captain Roger?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shanks smirks wryly. “Last I heard you haven’t had any more captains. Or should I report your treason to Rayleigh?” He pauses, shifts his weight from foot one to foot two. Ah, you never appreciate having two extremities until you lose one. “I </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span> know my crew’s names, by the way. And - you call them </span>
  <em>
    <span>subordinates</span>
  </em>
  <span>? Pffft.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up!” The snail’s features distort into an angry, exaggerated scowl --- an even angrier, more exaggerated scowl than his standard one, he means. The animal probably doesn’t transmit colour, but Shanks likes to imagine he’s blushing. (He probably isn’t, though. Buggy was pretty open with his negative emotions, but showing embarrassment? Never. He probably learnt to control his face at three months old, the fucker.) “What do you mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>you’ve met Roger’s son</span>
  </em>
  <span>?! Is he even alive?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, if he weren’t alive, how could I have met him? I can’t see ghosts, remember?” He shakes his head; hopefully, the Den Den Mushi transmits the movement. “You used to ask smarter questions, Buggy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At least I’ve asked smart questions sometime in my life!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An imaginary hand goes to his chest. “I’m deeply wounded by your words.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Buggy continues as if he hasn’t heard him. Maybe he hasn’t. When he gets caught in his monologues, it’s pretty hard to break his concentration. “I was just caught off-guard! You call me --- after a long, tiring day, full of successful treasure hunting, might I add --- and drop this bomb on me? What do you want me to do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eh?” Shanks tilts his head. “I don’t want you to do anything. Just thought I should tell you, you know.” He shrugs. “For the old times. If you want to do anything, though,” he adds, grin returning to his face, “I won’t stop you! He’s pretty good --- for a rookie, of course. I don’t think he’d join your crew, but no harm in trying, is there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A pause. “What’s the brat like?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, he’s cocky as hell, kind of like his father, but very polite, which is nothing at all like him. Not that I need to tell you that, right, old friend?” Shanks throws his head back and laughs again, the kind of laughter that comes from the core of your body. He actually sets the Den Den thingy aside to wipe a tear, because the memory deserves it. Ah, the Buggy vs. Roger swear fight. Good times.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Buggy splutters, “S-Shut up! You heard nothing!” Buggy was always decimated in those fights, of course; Roger had a sailor mouth fitting for the King of Pirates. Rayleigh actually washed his ears afterwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you know full well what I heard. We all did.” He picks up the thingy again. “Anyways, he and I - we didn’t speak much --- he just came to thank me for saving his brother a long time ago.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wait, if Ace and Luffy are brothers, does that mean Luffy’s also Roger’s son? It would explain the eerie similarities, like the sunshine smile or the undying will to be a pirate, yes, but the ages don’t fit… he thinks. He never asked for Luffy’s age. The kid couldn’t be more than seven when he met him, right? He must be fourteen now. Wow, time passes real fast. And the anchor still doesn’t know how to swim (it doesn’t matter it’s because of the Devil Fruit; the joke still stands)! Hilarious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was he thinking about again?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ah, who cares. Shanks’s never been one for thinking, anyways. He much prefers acting than wasting time away with unfun things. He’s a lot like Luffy in that aspect, and, although the thought feels kind of sacrilegious, like Roger, too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Brother</span>
  </em>
  <span>?! There are two of them?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shanks tilts his head. Oh, right, he was thinking about that. “Nah, I don’t think so,” he settles on. “The ages don’t fit. Probably adoptive brothers or something like that. Like you and I, right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The response is instantaneous: “You </span>
  <em>
    <span>wish</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Buggy says, and the Den Den Mushi twists into an ugly, disgusted grimace. The contempt is palpable, and so is the offense. Shanks’s lungs hurt from how much he’s laughed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On a totally unrelated note, he’s drunk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aw,” he coos, just to dig his foot all the way down his esophagus. “I know you don’t mean that. Remember how you used to cling to me in your sleep every time you had---”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“La, la, la! I can’t hear you! I’ve suddenly gone deaf!” Oh, so the snail can transmit blushing. Good to know. “What a disgrace not to hear your voice! On the other hand, it’s a horrible sound, so I’m glad to not hear your Southbird songs anymore!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, then I guess you won’t hear about this treasure I have---”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Treasure?!” The snail’s eyes widen so much they appear they’re going to fall off their sockets. “What treasure?! Why didn’t you start from there?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Heh, that never fails. Nor gets old. “Chill, Bugs. I was joking. But I thought you couldn’t hear.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Argh! My cover is blown! You conniving</span>
  <em>
    <span> bastard</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he spits. The small smile curling on the snail’s mouth tells another story, though, but if Buggy’s not going to mention it, then Shanks won’t, either. Those are rare enough to make them vanish so soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shanks’s chest puffs in pride. “Of course! I’m a pirate, after all!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah,” Buggy says, rolling his eyes. “everybody knows that, mister Emperor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not </span>
  <em>
    <span>everyone</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” His mind drifts back to Luffy. He’s thinking quite a lot about him today, it seems, much more than the usual weekly how’s-he-doing he usually goes through. “Anyways, anything else you wanna know about the kid?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Buggy hesitates. “What’s the brat’s name?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ace!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Of course it is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, right?” Shanks’s grins widen, if that’s even possible. His cheeks hurt. “It’s so like Captain to name their kid Ace. I bet his birthday is on January the first!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Buggy gasps, offended. “Captain? I’m sure this is that woman’s - Rouge’s work. She was always a sucker for cheesy names and puns. I remember her flirting with Captain with one of those textbook pick-up lines---”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“---</span>
  <em>
    <span>Arrrrrr ye free this noon? ‘Cause, baby, you unfurl my sails</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” they chorus, Buggy with a sigh and Shanks with a snicker. Shanks adds, “Yeah, I was there, too. Fucking loved Rouge, no wonder Captain had a son with her. I would have too, if she had said that at me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Buggy grunts and grumbles. Stops. “Wait. He had a son with </span>
  <em>
    <span>Rouge</span>
  </em>
  <span>? I thought he picked literally any other woman on Earth!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course he had a son with Rouge, Buggy, they were head over heels with each other!” Yeah, he knew it well. Shanks’s best hypothesis as to why Buggy dislikes Rouge (more than his normal dislike, of course) is that he caught them once in the captain’s quarters. His screams were heard all over the Oro Jackson, and so were the couple’s laughter. “Ace even has her freckles.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh</span>
  <em>
    <span>.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” The snail gags. “I hope that’s the only thing he shares with that woman.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should see his eyes --- exactly like hers, that they are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ugh</span>
  </em>
  <span>." Faint but animated noise comes from the Den Den Mushi, and Buggy's eyes flicker to whatever the source is, but they soon look forward again. "Look, Shanks, I'm kind of in the middle of a party, yeah? And I've been gone long enough."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shanks knows the dismissal for what it is, but still, he gets saddled by a strange, strong urge to reach out - "Ah, a party. You and I should go to one. You know, for the old times."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"...Yeah," Buggy says, and hangs without even saying goodbye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shanks, again, can't hold back the laughter, so he drops the Den Den Mushi and buries his face into his hands. That old clown, daring to lie to a mighty, great Emperor's face! And with a lie that bold! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even as he comes back to the deck, stepping on the drunk, unconscious bodies of his crewmates, there's a smile on his face. Reluctantly, no matter how much it pains his young self, he has to admit he's missed Buggy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And maybe they haven’t mended their relationship --- maybe it can't be mended anymore. But still, standing on his deck and watching the sun peer out of the horizon with the harmonious soundtrack of his precious people's snores, Shanks has never been more at peace.</span>
</p>
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